A Third Narnia?

It’s almost a year until we can see “Prince Caspian,” the second film in the Chronicles of Narnia. But news is already starting to spread about a third Narnia movie. (The series by C.S. Lewis has seven books, so as long as we keep buying tickets we may be hearing about Narnia films for a while.)

Now, we’re all getting a little tired of sequel-itis but it’s great to see films like Narnia getting made. The third film in the series will be “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” and will be directed by Michael Apted, who has directed several award winning documentaries as well as “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and the recent great movie about William Wilberforce “Amazing Grace.”

The movie is being made by Walden Entertainment which gave us “Charlotte’s Web” and “The Bridge to Terabithia.” Here’s a great little story from the head of the company about why he started this family-friendly media company:

It all started one day in 1997, when [Dimension Films president Cary Granat walked into his living room and discovered his daughter watching some work he had brought home from the office: dailies from Scream 2. There, on the TV screen, was the black-robed, ghoul-masked killer he had helped turn into an icon, chasing Courteney Cox around a recording studio with a knife. Granat’s daughter was terrified. She was also only 2 years old. In that moment, he considered the prospect of his little girl growing up steeped in the kind of culture he was producing. And he realized that something — or someone — needed to make that major change.

Funded from the deep pockets of billionaire businessman and Christian conservative Philip Anschutz, the company has had great success in recent years. Let’s hope it continues and they remain true to their vision.